Moon

June 07, 2020munch

“You’ve been up here too long man. You’ve lost your marbles.”

– Sam Bell

As you have probably seen so far, we go through phases with the types of movies we watch, the drinks we make and styles of photos we shoot. So, when we sat down to figure out what movies we wanted to watch over the upcoming year we noticed that haven’t done a traditional sci-fi movie in a while. This leaves both Leanna and Ben to look over at André and his long list of ‘to-watch’ movies, a lot of which are sci-fi, and settled on one we thought we would actually be able to plan a meal around: Duncan Jones’ Moon.

For those of you who aren’t familiar, Moon takes places in the future where mining on the moon accounts for 70% of the energy on the planet Earth. Someone has to keep watch over those machines, so we are introduced to Sam Bell, a man coming to the end of his solitary three-year contract on the moon. We decided to dip into history for inspiration, and looked up the first meal eaten on the moon. Turns out, the first meal consisted of a hodgepodge of ingredients with bacon squares, peaches, sugar cookie cubes, a pineapple grapefruit drink, and coffee. Doesn’t sound like the most appetizing assortment, so we felt as if it was the perfect opportunity to imagine how the food would have evolved from the first landing to one-manned mining operations.

What’s a natural evolution from bacon squares? Bourbon-glazed Pork Belly Cubes! We originally found another recipe where we were supposed to slow cook these on the grill, but our grill is busted, so we had to do it in the oven. Then, to make it ready for space flight, we vacuum-sealed it. Since these were just going to Ben’s house as leftovers, that might have been some over preparation. On the other hand, Ben has a history of holding on to borrowed Tupperware full of Munch leftovers for extended periods of time, so maybe it’s for the best?

Next, we had to somehow turn peaches into an actual meal. This was especially difficult because peaches aren’t in season so we couldn’t, nor did we want to, buy them anywhere. We ended up having to settle for canned peaches, which we weren’t thrilled about because of that very particular, syrupy taste they have. Sure, that may be closer to what the actual astronauts ate, but we’re here to EVOLVE the meals, not to settle! We ended up searing the peaches on the skillet (because again, our grill is busted) and made a quick balsamic steak to go with the peaches. From there, all we had to do were throw in some fresh greens and gorgonzola and package it for takeoff.

For sugar cookie squares, we ended up making sugar cookie squares. We had several ideas on how to evolve this tasty treat. We were going to get lavender to throw into the vacuum sealed package of cookies, but André couldn’t get lavender from any grocery stores, so we nixed that idea and decided to use the lavender sugar we’d been holding onto for years. Then, Leanna forgot to use this fancy sugar so we just ended up using regular sugar. That, dear friends, is why we are only human and this is the story of how our fancy lavender sugar cookie cubes turned into regular lemon shortbread. Not one of our finest moments. At least regular shortbread is still a treat.

Finally, we had to make some pineapple grapefruit drink. How do you punch up a pineapple grapefruit drink? Just add Malibu! No really, just add Malibu. It’s that easy. We also decided to store them in the freezer for a bit to turn it into a frozen surprise: just imagine three grown-ass adults sitting on a couch sipping Malibu pineapple grapefruit slushies out of collapsable water bottles and you have the purest distillation of joy you can find. The original moon landing probably would have been a mess if they had these.

Now, for our Munch Hot Take on the movie Moon: the trailer for Moon ruins Moon. Hollywood, listen up: you have to stop giving away so dang much in the trailers! Ben and André watched the trailer before we settled on Moon and thought it looked really interesting. Little did we know, the reason it looked so interesting is that the trailer spoiled the whole entire film. This had been a complaint we had heard prior to watching the film, but it is always interesting to see how a movie is marketed. At times, it is more about the journey than the destination, but for a film like Moon, the less you know going into it, the more impactful it will be.

The Reviews

André: Good not great. I’m pretty sure I was the biggest fan of Moon amongst us, but that’s not to say I wasn’t disappointed. I had really high hopes for this movie: it’s been hyped up as one of the best sci-fi movies of all time, and I was ready to love it. Unfortunately, the trailer really did ruin all the surprises in the movie for me, which is where I think a lot of the appeal lies. What I did like about the movie was the production value, the soundtrack, the set, and the tension they managed to build. I wish I could recommend it wholeheartedly, but I just can’t.

Leanna: Interesting premise, but it didn’t stick the (moon) landing. Maybe it’s because it’s 2019 and I just finished watching You on Netflix, but there just weren’t enough twists in this film. Even without watching the trailer, you figure out what’s up pretty early on, and then the film just drags while you wait to see how it concludes. And to be honest, the conclusion wasn’t even satisfying.

Ben: 75%. Spoilers can do a lot for a movie. It can make you more interested in seeing it, it can allow you to focus on the set up to the reveal, and occasionally it can diffuse a lot of the impact of the film itself. Moon falls in the latter camp. I had a pretty good understanding of what the major plot point in the film was prior to watching it, leaving the culmination of the film lacking and a little disappointing. Yes, the movie is well put together, and Sam Rockwell puts in an incredible performance as almost the only actor in the film, but the film comes off a little flat when you know what to expect. I feel like that is both on the film and how it wants to tell its story, while also largely being outside of the films hands.